General Colin Powell

There was One More Battle to Win

by Julie McKenna

For over two decades, celebrities have entrusted Coping® to tell the world about their personal experience with cancer. We are proud to present this exclusive interview from our archives and hope that it will inspire and encourage all who read it. This article was originally published in Coping with Cancer magazine,
May/June
2005.

On December 15, 2003, General
Colin L. Powell geared up for one
more battle. It was a war he had to
win; this time the enemy was prostate
cancer. Although the adversary
would be unlike any other he had
faced, he would go on to emerge victorious
and add one more title to his
distinguished career: cancer survivor.

Before serving as the 65th Secretary
of State from January 2001 to
January 2005, Powell was a career
soldier for 35 years and reached the
rank of 4-star General. He also served
as assistant to the President for
National Security Affairs, the 12th
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,
and the chairman of the nonprofit
organization America’s Promise –
The Alliance for Youth.

In an exclusive interview with
Coping® magazine, Powell admits
that he was somewhat prepared for
his diagnosis after a biopsy in August
2003 confirmed prostate cancer. “It is
a bit of a shock, of course, when your
doctor calls and tells you they found
cancer, but I was not completely surprised,”
explains Powell. “For about
six years I had been running an elevated
PSA and we watched it over the
years, very faithfully. I had regular
PSA tests and regular digital exams
at least twice a year.

“When I found out, I did what
everybody does: I went on Amazon
and bought every book I could find,”
jokes Powell, who approached his
war on cancer with the same precision
and planning that he has exercised
throughout his professional career.
He consulted with his doctor and
other specialists and decided the best
plan of action was surgery. “I then
had to arrange my schedule so that
I could find the time to do it. You
don’t just step aside when you’re
Secretary of State,” remarks Powell.

“I told the President and a few of my immediate
co-workers – only so they wouldn’t be surprised.”

Powell chose not to release information
about his diagnosis to the
public right away, wanting to avoid
any unnecessary speculation. “I told
the President and a few of my immediate
co-workers – only so they
wouldn’t be surprised,” he says. “But
I did not share it any more broadly,
except with my wife, Alma, of course,
who went through the whole thing
with me, and my children.”

Having formed his troops at the
front line, Powell took on the challenge
in a two-hour surgery on December 15,
2003. “The morning that I went into
Walter Reed Army Medical Center for
the operation, my deputy told our staff
and we made a press announcement
about the time I was coming out of
surgery,” Powell says. “Everyone
was surprised and a little bit nervous,
I suspect, but we were able to reassure
them rather quickly that the operation
went successfully.”

When I ask Powell if he thought
about reducing the demands of his
schedule after his surgery, he laughs
and says, “Oh, absolutely – I didn’t
have to think about it! The first few
weeks proved to be challenging, but
I was back in my office within about a
week. I was a little frail, but I showed
up nevertheless.”

As many people discover when they
are diagnosed with cancer, Powell soon
learned that he was not alone. “We
have a lot of prominent men in the
Washington area who have all been
through this,” Powell says. “What
astonished me was how many guys
came up to me and said, ‘Hey, I went
through that last year.’ I discovered
that most of the people I know my
age either had it or think they are
going to eventually have it.”

Asked if cancer has changed his
perspective on his personal or professional
life, Powell responds without
hesitation: “Not at all. I mean, I had
cancer and I have defeated it. Whether
I will get cancer or some other disease
in the future I don’t know. At age 68,
I’m probably going to get something,”
he jokes. “But I can’t worry about it;
I just have to go on.”

Powell discovered that winning
takes more than “an army of one,” and
attributes his positive prognosis and
steady recovery to the support of his
family and his healthcare team. “I’m
pleased that I had the best medical care
and that I was able to closely monitor
my elevated PSA with my doctor over
an extended period of time,” he says.
“I have been telling everyone that if
you’re not getting a regular exam – not
only PSA testing, but a digital exam
– then you’re playing with fire.”

As for his future plans, Powell
says, “I’m still working them out. I’ll
be returning to the speaking circuit
and examining a variety of opportunities
in the business world and in the
nonprofit world. So I’ll be around.”

To newly-diagnosed cancer survivors,
Powell offers what he considers to
be the five most important steps to winning
the war against cancer: “Read as
much as you can, study the nature of
the disease, share it with your family,
put your faith in your doctor, and have
a positive attitude. Then you can set
your sights on defeating the cancer.”

♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

This article was published in Coping® with Cancer magazine,
May/June
2005.